Cornerstone – Pay talks with Engagement Forum

UNISON has been made aware that Cornerstone has started discussions with the Engagement Forum (EF) on a possible pay award for 2019/20 and in turn they have been asked to consult all staff.

UNISON is taken aback by this move as once again your employer shows a complete disregard for the strength of feeling amongst their loyal and hard working staff. Let’s not forget that last year’s pay deal has not yet been concluded. UNISON is still waiting for your employer making a final offer for 2018/19 and/or return to ACAS.

To undertake the pretence of staff consultation at this time shows a lack of understanding of where we are with the current dispute.

UNISON would further comment:-

Your pay claim for 2018/19 has not been settled as yet. It is apparent that the pay award for 2018/19 has implications for your 2019/20 award. For example, your pay claim for LCAST was for £12 per hour, therefore, in this context, the 2019/20 options do not make sense.

The Central Arbitration Committee’s (CAC’s) decision on Statutory Recognition between UNISON and Cornerstone is imminent.

The Chief Executive has publically stated that they would abide by any Statutory Recognition process.

Clearly, negotiating pay awards is a major feature of any Fair Work relationship between a trade union and the employer. As such, it is unclear why the Leadership Team would choose to move on 2019/20 pay at this point.

It appears that a series of options have been given to the EF for consultation. However, no pay claim has been made on your behalf. How has the EF decided that the offers are worthy of consultation?

It appears that the 2019/20 options all include a 1% increase for non LCAST staff who do not benefit from the Scottish Living Wage uplift (SLW). This is the lowest offer that UNISON is aware of in this sector so far this year.

You will recall that we wrote to all UNISON members asking you to complete a caseform in case we had to lodge a legal claim for unlawful inducement under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. We can confirm that we are now taking legal advice as we believe we are now in a position to lodge the claims on your behalf as a direct result of Cornerstones actions.

Your UNISON stewards would like to thank you all for your trade union solidarity and commitment to your jobs as this completely avoidable process plays out.